Tuesday 24 September 2013

THE BIG 'O'

The UltrAspire Big 'O' is a trail run, organised by Lactic Turkey Events, which takes in the scenic tracks around Lake Okataina, near Rotorua. There are 35km, 21km, or 10km options, and I chose to participate in the 21km event; or at least that's what I thought...


The race had a leisurely start time of 10am; so after registering at 9am it was back to the car to tune in to RadioSport and keep up to date with what was happening in the America's Cup. The weather couldn't have been more different to what was happening in San Francisco. While Team NZ's America's Cup race being called off after exceeding the race time limit due to light winds; we were sat in the car sheltering from what were some wet, windy, and generally wild, weather conditions. Still, my race had to go on.










The race began on farmland. We headed out on what was a nice undulating course... for the first 5-10mins. Then we started hitting the hills. The first hill we reached was so steep it was a lot quicker to power walk up it, rather than run. While scrambling up the hills in the farm land, lungs going full-bore, one of the guys in our leading bunch looked across to me and said “Holy sh*t I didn’t expect to be walking this early!” I found this quite funny at the time (even though I was feeling a decent amount of 'hurt'). Little did we know that there were many more 'scrambling' hills to some!

After the farmland, there was a section of gravel road and we made our way up to the top of a range of hills. Unfortunately, due to the inclement weather conditions, the probable view was blocked by mist and clouds. It was still a nice run along the top. We then entered a section of recently felled forest and had to do a bit of climbing over trees and branches, before heading into some native bush. There was no obvious track through most of the bush sections, and instead we followed tape markers which were tied to the trees. There was quite a bit of supplejack which meant we were often climbing through vines and canes. The bush was so awesome; so beautiful and lush. You really can't beat running freely through bush like that. The wet weather, and extremely muddy track just added to the adventure!

After about 1hour 20min of running through what was largely bush, we popped out to a camp where the drinks station was placed. I was getting a bit concerned about the time at this stage as I remember hearing that the drinks station was about half way around the course... 1hour 20min...halfway!? This is when I first realised I may be in for a bigger day than I had expected!

Never mind though! Soldier on :)



 
I grabbed a bit of R-line sports drink from the station, and headed off towards yet another big uphill. Within 10mins I found myself walk/running/scrambling on all fours. The steep and muddy terrain meant that the climb was slow and hard work. At the top, it was a bit more bush, before climbing a fence or two, and heading out onto more farmland. This farmland section was quite long and exposed, and by now the weather had worsened; so it was just a case of head down and keep going!

The course did not follow any track, instead you had to run to each marker. The course was actually marked very well by the organisers; with markers every 5-20 metres. However despite this, at times it was a struggle to see the next marker in the dense misty weather. Up a few more hills (including one covered in gorse - ouch!) and we eventually started feeling as though we were getting closer to civilisation.

I was watching the time on my watch; 2 hr 15min… 2hr 30mins… 2 hour 40min… surely we are getting close?!

At 2 hour 50mins I arrived back at camp, third person home and first female home. After crossing the finish line I went over and joined the two guys who finished before me. They looked how I felt; pretty spent; they then told me I had just run 27.5km not 21km?! I was actually kind of relieved to hear this as that explained the massive race time!! (I was getting worried I was just very very slow!) Many of the people coming across the finish line looked exhausted and saturated, but happy (and relieved) to see the finish. This was the longest distance I have run before so I was pretty happy to hold up the whole race. I think many people had the same feeling!

My hat goes off to those who completed the 35km run, which turned out to be 51km…WOW. What a distance! Awesome achievement.
Again, a big thanks to the organisers and sponsors. A great event, and I might just have to come back next year so perhaps I can finally see that view from the top of the range :)

It is now almost exactly one month until Xterra! Eeek! The nervous excitement is building...but first, it's time to shift my focus to the Motu Challenge, where I will reunite with my Lysaght Consultants team-mate 'Crazy' Craig Jones.

Looking forward to it!

Tuesday 10 September 2013

MONTY'S REVENGE

The Robinson Law Monty’s Revenge is a 55km multisport event, based out of Ohope in the Bay of Plenty. The guy who sparked it all off in the 1990s was Monty McGougan; a local legend and high performer in the local surf club. He had the idea of creating a multisport race as training for the surf club members and it's just morphed from there; past winners are a who's who of multisport from Sophie Hart and Rachel Cashin to Gordon Walker and Ben Fouhy. It involves trail running, mountain biking, and kayaking as an individual, pair, or as a team doing one stage each. I was to be racing in a 2-man mixed team, Team Lysaght Consultants, along with ‘Crazy’ Craig Jones. ‘Crazy’ Craig is another local multi-sporter who I have been lucky enough to train with when I am back at home. He’s a laugh a minute off the course, and an absolute machine on it.
It was a stunning morning in Ohope and a leisurely race start (10am), along with the awesome beach location, meant a series of random photos were in order.
See exhibit A below…

This year’s event began at the Maretotara Reserve, with a ‘Le Mans’ style start to the mountain bike leg. Although being a notoriously gnarly multisport event, this was not your typical dash for the bike; instead we sprinted up a stream which was knee deep in places!  But before long, I was off on my bike and about 10mins in we began an epic climb up and over the hill towards Whakatane. It was around 50mins of grunty climbing before I reached the top, with some sections “kissing the handle bars in granny gear” steep! The 360° views at the top definitely helped dull the pain a little though – Awesome. 
Photo Courtesy of Bruce Belcher
Photo Courtesy of Bruce Belcher
Then the descent; slow and easy for a start, with some pretty dodgy sections of loose gravel; but soon out onto farm land where we had to jump a fence, and scramble up a 15m bank – with bikes in tow. It wasn’t too far from there before I popped out by the Whakatane river and I handed over to ‘Crazy’ for the paddle leg; first female off the mountain bike.
‘Crazy’ Craig smashed it – like totally smashed it; he passed around 10 people, and came away with the fastest overall time for the paddle leg. He handed over the transponder looking like he had certainly left everything on the course. I was soon off up the stairs and into the final leg – the 12km trail run.
Photo Courtesy of Bruce Belcher
 Stairs, stairs, and a hill climb - about 20mins of it! But all worthwhile as it led to a really nice part of the run – undulating bush track – my favourite! I did have a few confusing moments through here though; there was no one around me and tracks were tricky to follow in places. It was a relief when I dropped down onto the beach and saw a marshal. I then continued around the coastline on rocks for a few kilometres. However, unbeknownst to be, I had missed part of the track – along with another guy I was following.  We ended up having to dive into the sea and swim for a few metres (rather refreshing at this time of year!!). Then all that remained was a 3km dash along the hard sand to the finish to also take out the title of fastest female in the run.
All in all, it was a fantastic little local event, with a pretty gnarly course which really kept you on your toes throughout the race. Craig and I managed to take out first mixed team, and first placed 2-man team, along with our individual titles on each of the legs. Gotta be happy with that! 
Big thanks to the EBOP Multisport Club and all those who helped make the event happen; including the major sponsor, Robinson Law. Also, of course, a big shout-out to our teams naming sponsor, and my major sponsor, Lysaght Consultants! Along with all those other businesses and supporters who continue to make my training and competing possible.


Team Lysaght Consultants will be out in the hills again in around a month’s time, this time at the infamous Motu Challenge; can’t wait!

Wednesday 4 September 2013

SEVEN WEEKS...

I thought I would do a quick update on the sponsorship I have received recently. The awesome support from my sponsors helps to provide me with all the equipment I need, to train as hard as I can, leading up to the World Champs (only 7 weeks away ?! eeek!)
Just recently, I have been given a new pair of Asics runners and two running tops from Smiths Sport Shoes Tauranga, a new team race suit and t-shirt from Lysaght Consultants Ltd, and a six month gym membership from Ocean Blue Fitness, which I am able to sell in order to raise funds to get me to World Champs.


My major sponsor, Lysaght Consultants Ltd, have also recently given me $1500 towards triathlon gear and getting to Hawaii. This will be a massive help, and I am so thankful for their generosity.


As a bit of a 'thank-you' to Lysaght Consultants, I baked up a storm (with help from Mum!) and delivered morning tea to the team.


Afghans, Lemon tarts and good old sausage rolls….mmmmmmm. True athlete’s food ;) They were stoked!

I will also be providing some swim coaching to some of the staff at Lysaght Consultants. The company enters a number of teams (made up of their employees) into local events during the season. Therefore a couple of the guys are looking to improve their swimming techniques to increase the companies chances of taking out some of the corporate events. Hopefully I will be able to pass on some tips and get a good session in with these guys! 

First swim session with the Lysaght's crew will be this Monday (9th of September), bring it on!